Selection of Optimal Part Orientation for Rapid Prototyping

Abstract

Layered manufacturing is used for various purposes as one technique of Rapid prototyping. Because it builds three dimensional objects by adding materials layer-bylayer, the stair-stepping effects worsen surface roughness and volumetric error. Using build orientation, quality of parts can be improved.

This paper proposes a method to simplify a model with equivalent accuracy which evaluates each parameter efficiently, First, some build directions satisfying given acceptable range of each parameter are selected. This algorithm determines the optimal direction by the parameter’s priority. Using this proposed algorithm, the optimal layered manufacturing can be efficiently determined.